


A Weight Off The Shoulders

by Maybethings



Series: May Be Promptin' [12]
Category: Dragon Age
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-22
Updated: 2011-09-22
Packaged: 2017-11-03 21:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/385891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maybethings/pseuds/Maybethings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Generated prompt. Duncan/Alistair, a change for the better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Weight Off The Shoulders

There’s something familiar about Alistair when Duncan first meets him. When he does realise it, it’s suddenly the most obvious thing in the world: it’s the shoulders. The boy carries himself gracelessly, stiff and slightly hunched, ready to flinch backwards. His eyes slide with practiced casualness from one thing to another. And he does not smile.

He is ill at ease, trying to belong and failing. He will not be happy here.

It takes some doing to have the Reverend Mother release him, but he does it anyway. The two leave together, doing their best to ignore the icy glares of the priestess behind them. Some distance away, Alistair clears his throat, still awkward in his second-hand splintmail, and addresses him.

“Why’d you do that…for me?”

“You weren’t happy there,” Duncan replied without breaking stride. “And you could do a lot of good out here with your skills, instead of behind those walls.”

It’s almost tangible how the tension flows out Alistair’s shoulders when he hears that. It will take a while before his shoulders stop inching toward his ears regularly, or he smiles more often, or he is comfortable revealing a penchant for bad jokes, magical artifacts and hair products. But it is the first step in a change for the better, and for now, it is enough.


End file.
